Apparatus for lixiviating raw material in stages



July 14, 1936. E. BHM 2,047,352

APPARATUS FOR LIXIVIATING RAW MATERIAL IN STAGES Filed Dec. 4.'.1935

z Z l a 'a y Patented July 14,- 1936` PATENT OFFICE APPRATUS FOB LIXIVIATING BAW BIATERIAL lN STAGES Egon Bhm, Vienna, Austria, assignor to Karl Friedrich Wilhelm, Stralsund, Germany Application December 4, 1935, Serial No. 52,92 In Germany December 18, 1930 1 claim. (c1. :i1-fzs) The invention relates to an apparatus by which constituents of raw materials can be continuously dissolved out and the solvent is led through the material to be lixiviated for this purpose. (This 5 is a continuation in part of the divisional application Ser. No. 712,433, illed 21-2--1934, and

accordingly certain parts of the subject matter of thelater application will be found in the vearlier application.)

l0 In the known methods the raw materials are subjected to repeated treatment with the solvent in a closed container or the solvent is led through stationary, containers containing the raw material, which are each closed and arranged in series, by means lof pipe conduits. It has also` al-l ready been proposed t move the raw material forwards in a chamber closed on all sides in containers having .sieve bottoms and being open at the tops, while the solvent is allowed to ow freely .in the opposite direction through Yall the containers successively. It has already been proposed to move the raw material in the chamber not forwards but rst downwards and then upwards,

vwhile' the solvent is led through the material in the downwardly moving containers in the same direction and through the materialfin the upardly moving containers in the opposite direc.-

In contradistinction thereto the present invention consists in this that the raw vmaterial is moved in horizontal annular containers, which are arranged centrally in a chamber, which is closed on all sides, at diierent heights about a common vertical axis. Each of these containers u 35. consists of a rotatable sieve bottom and one side wall rigidly connected with this, while the other side wall which can preferably be heated is staignary .',Ifhe rotatable sievebottom moves very close to the stationary wall. 'lhis stationary wall 40 of eachcontainer is interrupted at one part and provided with a scraping device reaching intov the interior of the container the sieve bottom and the other side wall, which conveys the material. moved with the rotatable part of thecontainer in the manner o! a conveyor band, into the next' lower container. 'From the container'at the bottom of the chamber the material passes out' through an opening in the wall of the chamber. During the movement of the raw material by the containers. solvent is passed through all the containers successively by means of a pump from the bottom to the liquid distributor of the next higher container and from this distributor in free fall into the container belonging thereto, so that the iat content is increased continuously from vthe bottom to the top.

In the accompanying drawing an example of the invention is illustrated.

Fig'. 1 is a vertical section along line I-I of 5 Fig. 2 and Fig 2 is a horizontal section along line II-lI of Fig. 1. e

In the chamber a., which is closed on all sides, the circular containers b1, b2, and. b3 are arranged centrally one above the other. The container b2, 10 which` lies between b1 and b3, preferably has a smaller diameter than these in order that the material delivered from the container b1 through its opening l1 of the stationary side wall by means lof the scraping device h1 may be brought into l5 the container b2. .Each of the containers b1, l)2 and b3 consists respectively of the sieve bottoms c1, c, and c3, and the side walls d1, d2, and d3, rigidly connected therewith and of the stationary double side walls e1, e, and e3, which can be 27o heated.l yThe sieve bottoms of the containers with the connected side walls are rotatable. Below the containers b1, b2, and b3 are the atl stationary troughs f1, f, and f3, in which the solvent flowing through the sieve bottoms c1, c2, and c3 .25

is caught up. Above the containers b1, b2, and b3 are respectively arranged the pipe conduits g1, al, and g3 from which lthe solvent passes to the distributors m1, m2, and m3 respectively and from there into the contains b1, b, and b3 respectively. 30 v The solvent conduit y2 is connected with the trough f-i, the solvent conduit g1 with the trough j. The solvent conduit g3 is supplied with the solvent from a reservoir and the solvent conduit a4, which leads away the solvent from the trough '35 Il, which is most enriched with the substances dissolved out of the raw material, opens into a collectorl outside the chamber a. In the solvent conduits g1, and a pumps p1 and p2 are interposed for delivering the solvent.v The upper cover of 40 the chamber a is penetrated by the lling hopper i through which the raw material to be lixiviated is brought into the container b1; the lower end of the chamber a is penetrated by the outlet opening k through which this lixivated raw ma- 45 terial scraped oil from the lowest container b3 is delivered to the outside.

The containers b1, b. and bs are rotatable about the axis n, whichis brought in rotation by the bevel gear system o. Of the container b1 the sieve 50 bottom cl and the outer wall d1 are brought in' rotation by the axis n, whilst the wall e1 is stationary with .the chamber a. Of the container bltheinnerwall dandthesievebottom care brought in rotation by the axis n and the outer 55"? 2 y accusa wall eI is stationary. Of the container lzj the outer wall d3 and the sieve .bottom c3 are brought in rotation by the axis n, whilst the inner wall ea is stationary. The containers are rotated with the sieve bottoms in order to convey the material against thescraping devices and along the `same into the next lower containers. To conduct the solvent coming from the pipe condults'a and passing through the trough ,f3 into the pipe 1o conduits g2 pumps p2 are arranged in the vpipe conduits g2 between the trough f2 and the distributor m2. To conduct the solvent from 'the trough f2 into the distributor m1 pumps p1 arearranged in the pipe conduits g1. The distribu- 15 tors m1, m2, and m3 can be provided in any numv ber above every container; Fig. 2 shows three of the stationary side wall e1 out of the container.

The material falls o n to the part immediately underneath the opening l1, i. e. the container b2,

30 which also has its movable part rotating, in which the same procedure takes place until the, material reaches the container b3 and from this falls out through the outlet opening Ic. During the movement of the raw material in the containers 35 b1, b2, and b3, solvent is brought over the raw material by means of the pipe conduits g1, g3, and ya;

' the solvent' dissolves the soluble constituents' of the raw material and falls through the sieve bottoms c1, c2, and c3 into the collectors or troughs 40 f1. I, and 13. The solvent collected in the trough f3 will only contain small quantities of substance dissolved out from the raw material because the raw material has already been lixiviated to a considerable extent in the containers b1 and b2. Through the pipe-conduit g3 this solvent is conveyed to the raw material in the container b3. 5 passes through this after taking up apart of the material to be dissolved out into the trough f from here through the pipe conduits gl to the raw material in the container b1, which still contains all the parts which are to be dissolved out, and then into the trough f1, from which now highly enriched it is conveyed through the pipe conduit a* for known further treatment.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this invention and in what manner thesame is to be performed, I declare that what I' claim is:

An apparatus for lixiviating solid materials with liquid solvents. comprising a closed chamber,

. aiseries of. annular containers coaxially mounted one above the other withinthe chamber, Teach container consisting of a solid revoluble side wall and a perforated bottom secured thereto. a stationary wall with an opening forming the opposite .side of each container, a scraper on the stationary wall adjacent said opening and extending acrs the'sai'd bottom, conveying the material from the annular course through the opening into the next lower container, and annular trough beneath each of said containers, conduits leading from a lower trough to an upper container with trough and pumps conveying the solvents through'said. conduits, a supply conduit for the solvent from a source to the lowermost container, a delivery conduit for the solvent from the uppermost trough out of the apparatus, a lling hopper for raw material at the top ofthe chamber and an outlet opening .at the bottom thereof for lixiviated material.

EGON BHM. 40 

